With Viggle, you can get gift cards, prizes and cash for listening to music and watching TV
Let's face it: you're already bingeing anyway, so why not get rewarded for it? Viggle listens for your music and TV shows and recognizes what it hears, giving you points for each song and show it can identify. You can convert those points into gift cards, cash or prizes, but be warned: it takes a while to accumulate enough points to cash out. Rihanna's "Desperado" only merits two points, but it takes 20,000 to get a $20 Amazon gift card.
If you love entering sweepstakes and giveaways (or you're just naturally lucky), Claim it! is for you
Claim it! is a product giveaway app that offers you the chance to enter weekly sweepstakes. The app offers localized giveaways that change each week, which users can enter by selecting a product and clicking "Claim it!" The app lets you know the chances of winning each giveaway, how many people have entered and the value of each item, but just like in a lottery, your chances vary: I had a 100% chance of getting a free coconut water, but less than a 1% chance of winning Powerbeats 2 headphones.
The Scratchy app works like a digital scratch-off lottery ticket
Much like real-life scratch-off lottery tickets, Scratchy takes a lot of patience and a lot of luck. But if you have a free few minutes every day to play, it could be worth it for you. Scratchy lets you select some of your favorite brands, like Adidas, Whole Foods, or Chipotle, then try to scratch off three matching logos to claim a prize. It works in levels, which are unlocked by playing a certain amount of times, and there are better prizes the more you play — ultimately, you could win $50 to Delta Airlines, Amazon, and more.
Belly is a rewards app for those who like to shop local
Belly partners with local businesses to reward loyal shoppers. The app requires you to set your location, then shows you a map of all the nearby partners. If you have a favorite local pizza place, convenience store or hair salon, Belly allows you to check-in, join their rewards program, and start racking up points for your purchases, which you can redeem for things like free drinks and snacks.
Swarm Perks give you discounts and prizes for checking into stores
Swarm, which is powered by Foursquare, recently introduced Perks, which give you discounts on purchases just for checking in. Right now, the app only partners with national retailers, but users can get discounts at stores like Famous Footwear, Calvin Klein, and Toys R' Us. Participating retailers will have little bags of money next to their name when you check in on the app, so it's pretty easy to find discounts. Swarm also gives you the option to participate in challenges, like checking into three summertime locations (like beaches or amusement parks) to win a $10,000 vacation.
Checkout 51 is the 2016 version of clipping coupons
No one likes to cut out coupons, but every little discount helps. Checkout 51 solves the issue of having to carry around piles of coupons by showing you the discounts you can get on everyday items, like toothpaste or bananas. Once you purchase an item that appears on the app, all you have to do is upload your receipt within a certain timeframe to get cash back. The app even gives you recipe ideas for items you've purchased.